University of Houston

Located in the large city of Houston, Texas, the University of Houston is the flagship campus of the UH System and meets the needs of thousands of cities every year. Known as Houston Junior College when it first opened in 1927, the college offered classes at night and used classrooms at a local high school. As enrollment grew, the college moved to its own separate campus and established a curriculum that would help students meet all the requirements necessary for graduation. After becoming a university, UH built a new branch in Sugar Land that offers many of the same programs and classes. Students can earn a full degree from that branch campus or transfer to the main campus later.

When listing the top colleges in the country, U.S. News & World Report placed UH at number 187, but the same publication listed it at number 105 on its list of top public colleges. ARWU included the University of Houston within the top 100 of schools in the United States, and both Forbes and Washington Monthly ranked it within the top 150. U.S. News & World Report and other publications like Times and QS also ranked UH on lists of the world's best colleges. Notable alumni include politicians, writers, astronauts and even actors like Jim Parsons, Dennis Quaid and Loretta Devine.

University of Houston Accreditation Details

When choosing a college or university, you should always ensure that it has regional accreditation. Sometimes called institutional accreditation, this means that the college has the approval of a higher body to grant college degrees. The University of Houston has its regional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). You can go online to view when the university last received accreditation and when its accreditation will come up for renewal in the future. UH also has accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs for its programs in school counseling and community counseling. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accredited its business programs, and it has accreditation for its nursing program from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

University of Houston Application Requirements

UH has more application requirements in place for graduate students than it does undergrads. Going to graduate school gives you the chance to narrow down your field of study and to develop the skills necessary to work in more advanced positions within your chosen field. While you will still need to complete an online application and pay an application fee, the size of that fee varies from program to program. Each program also has the right to establish its own deadline. Some have a deadline late in the spring, but others require that prospective students submit applications by the middle or beginning of January.

You will mail in an official transcript from every college or university that you attended. Each transcript must show your overall grade point average, your program GPA, your class ranking and the courses you took to earn your degree. You'll also need to take an advanced standardized test like the GMAT or GRE and submit your official scores to the college. The University of Houston also requires that all graduate school students submit a resume, personal statement or essay and multiple letters of recommendation. Though the authors of those letters can submit their work electronically, they must include a professional email address that lets the university contact them and verify they submitted those letters.

Tuition and Financial Aid

The University of Houston has its own cost calculator that allows prospective students to see how much graduate school will cost them based on the number of credits they take and the department they want to take classes. A full-time graduate students takes a minimum of nine credit hours of courses each semester. UH estimates that those students will pay around $3,500 to $7,500 a semester depending on the program type they choose. This includes mandatory fees for using the university center, the school's health and wellness center and its student services.

UH offers a number of financial aid packages for graduate students. You can apply for a research, teaching or another type of assistant job on campus. These jobs pay students up to $2,500 a month for the work they do, and most programs only require that students work 20 hours a week. You must already have an acceptance letter from the university before you can apply for one of these jobs. After applying for grad school, fill out applications to apply for scholarships and fellowships from the university too. Grad students who take a minimum of seven credit hours of classes each semester can qualify for an institutional grant from the university. All University of Houston grad students can also apply for unsubsidized student loans from the government and private student loans from alternative lenders.

Master of Science in Human Resource Development

The Master of Science in Human Resource Development, also known as the Human Resource Development (MS) program, offered by the University of Houston is open to students who have an undergrad degree and want to gain more experience in the human resources industry. HR professionals are the ones responsible for hiring new workers, looking for qualified employees, talking about rules and regulations for existing workers and creating benefit packages that work for both employees and the owners of those companies. This program features a curriculum that brings practical experiences into the classrooms to help students gain a better understanding of HR topics. It is available on the university's main campus and through its distance learning/online campus too.

One unique aspect of this program is that it has its own advisory board. Members of that board actually meet with business owners in the local community to find out what they want from HR professionals and what they look for in job candidates. The board then looks for ways to incorporate that knowledge into the classroom. Students must take nine required courses on subjects like leadership development, instructional design and research training. They must also take nine credit hours of electives that their advisers approve later in the program. The University of Houston is one of the only colleges to offer this program and give students the option of writing a thesis or enrolling in a non-thesis track.